Dimitri Storm escapes after Big Sur high speed chase

On Wednesday he lead officers on a 100-mph high speed chase on Highway 1 through Big Sur before slipping away into the mountains.

Storm became Santa Cruz County's most wanted man after he went on a car-stealing rampage and eluded capture for weeks.

The 42-year-old fugitive with blond hair and blue eyes has followed a pattern of stealing a car, dumping it a few days later, and then stealing a new one in a nearby town. He also likes to pry license plates off parked vehicles and put them on the stolen vehicles that he drives around.

At 12:45 p.m. Wednesday, a Monterey County Sheriff's deputy spotted a stolen gray Lexus leaving Big Sur at a high rate of speed. The Lexus was reported stolen in Carmel.

When the deputy flashed his patrol vehicle's lights to pull the driver over, the Lexus took off and the deputy called for backup.

"(Storm) drove at high speed through a construction site near Andrew Molera State Beach. The vehicle nearly collided with other vehicles and construction workers," sheriff's deputy D. Mitchell said.

Storm crossed the Bixby Bridge Storm and zoomed east up Palo Colorado Road. The chase ended when the Lexus disappeared into Big Sur's rugged wilderness and pursuing officers lost him.

A manhunt ensued as sheriff's deputies used tracking dogs to comb the area while CHP officers stopped motorists on Highway 1 near Garrapata State Beach to question drivers. A resident alerted that the stolen Lexus was abandoned at the end of Garrapata Road.

At 10:40 a.m. Thursday, Storm was still at-large and all searches had been called off.